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Does CES ever disappoint? Not really and this year was no different. With new tech and innovations as far as the eye could see, there are plenty of opportunities on the horizon for marketers and advertisers to utilize. Though some of those opportunities are still in their infancy, the promise surrounding them is high and many are eagerly waiting to see what’s to come. Here are the five big points I took home from CES 2016 and my thoughts on where digital fits into the fold.
VR (virtual reality)
Whether it’s devices like Oculus Rift or Google Cardboard, content creators like Discovery or distribution networks like Littlstar, you’ve likely heard or read about the influx of innovations in the VR space. No surprise, there continued to be lots of buzz about the topic at CES during sessions through experience-based demos, and a heavy presence among various booths on the floor. Though it’s yet to be seen what type of advertising opportunities will exist at scale within this space, Discovery eluded to content integration ideas. Google noted that early campaigns used branded cardboard executions and virtual test drives with auto clients. Measurement is still a bit tricky, like with most new testing opportunities, but the advent of VR should be encouraging enough for brands, advertisers, creative shops, etc. to start thinking about how to evolve the way they approach content creation.
Advanced TV and Connected TV
Beyond advancements in TV manufacturer technology like 4K OLED, there was a heavy focus on Video at CES, with several notable elements that have an inherent influence on media buying and advertising opportunities. Announcements from AudienceXpress about the release of their self-serve programmatic TV platform and Acxiom’s news about an addressable TV platform firmly establish the continued push toward automation and audience-based targeting needing to move beyond just digital channels like desktop and mobile, and into more traditional channels like TV.
Analytics
Cross-platform TV & digital video measurement continues to be a challenge in our industry. Should core success metrics look more like today’s digital KPIs or TVs old standby of GRPs? Nielsen’s DAR (digital ad ratings product) was one of the first available solutions for buyers to report verified, on-target GRPs across desktop and mobile campaigns, allowing digital metrics to look more like TV. On the flip side, Samba TV has been working toward making TV metrics look more like digital. At their booth space, Centro’s Digital Innovations team was given a preview of their analytics dashboard, expected to be released in Q2 2016, which pulls in data from their 3MM household research panel to report against viewability rates, completion rates and skip rates, in addition to standard TV metrics like GRPs. In addition to their existing broadcast conversion rate offering, this could be a game changer for media buyers and advertisers looking to move beyond GRPs with their TV buys.
Ad Blockers
Over the past few months, it seems the trades have been all over the topic of ad blockers being a concern for online advertisers, but dismiss the fact that this is not a challenge exclusive to digital media. I was a TV buyer in 2012 and still recall the outcry when Dish announced their plans for the Hopper “AutoHop” update, a DVR feature that allowed users to skip past commercials with the push of a button, instead of the normal requirement of fast-forwarding to skip ads. Though announced last September, TiVo featured their new product, Bolt, at this year’s CES, which has features eerily similar to that of the Hopper AutoHop in terms of the ability to skip commercials. What does that mean? It’s the ultimate TV ad blocker. If these DVR features take off and start to become the norm with other set-top boxes, I imagine a couple of other partner activations seen at CES may be solutions for avoiding those ad blockers. One such partner is Watchwith, offering a native in-program ad format with future promises of being accessible through private marketplaces. This new ad format gives TV programmers additional ways to monetize their content and media buyers an option to avoid TV commercial skippers and capitalize on another high-reach, branding opportunity on TV.
CTV Screens Everywhere
The floors of CES were filled with screens, but not just clearer and thinner TV screens for the living room. We saw screens on refrigerators, in cars, on watches, as kitchen counter backsplashes, on telepresence robots, even doorbells that connected the ringer to a screen. Some of these screens have existed for a few years and just haven’t been adopted at scale yet, while others are new prototypes. While it’s still early for many of these screens to be widely adopted, it is clear video content is going to continue to rise and hit us everywhere we go.
As expected, there is plenty to be excited for. With more devices comes more opportunities for new and innovative ad units and customer experiences. Being ahead of the game will be essential to success once these new technologies are adopted at scale.
Learn more about Connected TV Advertising with Centro.
Centro’s Ian Trider Receives IAB Service Excellence Award for OpenRTB Protocol Contributions;
IAB Honorees Recognized for Propelling the Interactive Advertising Industry Forward
CHICAGO, IL – Jan. 25, 2016 – Centro (centro.net), a provider of enterprise-class software for digital advertising, today announced that it has been awarded the 2016 IAB Sales Excellence Awards. The IAB Sales Awards acknowledge individuals and organizations that have demonstrated exemplary leadership and achievements in digital advertising sales. Centro, one of only two company-level recipients of the award, was selected among small- to mid-size sales organizations. Additionally, Ian Trider, RTB manager at Centro, received an IAB Service Excellence Award for his contributions to the OpenRTB 2.4 protocol. These accolades were presented at beginning of the IAB Annual Leadership Meeting on January 24, 2016, in Palm Desert, California.
The IAB Sales Executive Council works with media intelligence firm Advertiser Perceptions, Inc. (www.advertiserperceptions.com) to identify the skills and achievements that are measured and honored for the IAB Sales Excellence Awards. Advertiser Perceptions surveyed 560 executives at agencies and advertisers, each of whom bought at least $1 million in digital advertising in the last year, to identify organizations and salespeople for the 2016 awards. The study measures IAB general member companies on three attributes of selling -- customer service, knowledge and innovation. Additionally, the IAB Service Awards recognize members’ exceptional contributions to IAB industry initiatives over the past year. The winners are nominated by IAB staff and voted on by the organization’s 20 committees and councils and several working groups.
“The IAB Sales Excellence Awards identify industry leaders who have achieved noteworthy success selling digital advertising,” said Sherrill Mane, SVP, Research, Analytics and Measurement, IAB. “They are celebrated today for their talent and acute understanding of how to create advertising solutions that meet the demands of media buyers and marketers within an ever-evolving digital landscape.”
Centro’s technology and service solutions help agencies and advertisers automate the entire lifecycle of media transactions with publishers, encompassing guaranteed and biddable ad inventory on every major digital channel. It is the partner-of-choice for simplifying and consolidating the various aspects of digital media buying. Centro works with 2,000 agencies and fields a sales force of more than 100 team members that encompass all major regions in the U.S.
“Digital media revolves around the contributions of people. Our industry needs knowledgeable professionals who can explain the value of digital -- how it works, how it’s changing, and what advertisers can do about it,” said Tyler Kelly, SVP of Client Development, Centro. “We are honored by our recognition from the IAB. It’s a testament to our team’s training and development and it demonstrates that our customers are receiving advice and insights that drive business success.”
About Centro
Centro (centro.net) is creating a platform to make digital advertising easier. Its enterprise-class software centralizes, organizes and automates all digital media campaigns across all channels, accessing both guaranteed and biddable inventory, to achieve any objective. Our holistic approach gives marketers a single system of record to fulfill their research, planning, buying, optimization, reporting and reconciliation needs. Since 2001, Centro has successfully planned and executed more than 250,000 campaigns across all digital display platforms and ad format types. Headquartered in Chicago with 32 offices in North America, Centro has received numerous accolades for its commitment to employees and workplace culture.
About IAB
The Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB) empowers the media and marketing industries to thrive in the digital economy. It is comprised of more than 650 leading media and technology companies that are responsible for selling, delivering, and optimizing digital advertising or marketing campaigns. Together, they account for 86 percent of online advertising in the United States. Working with its member companies, the IAB develops technical standards and best practices and fields critical research on interactive advertising, while also educating brands, agencies, and the wider business community on the importance of digital marketing. The organization is committed to professional development and elevating the knowledge, skills, expertise, and diversity of the workforce across the industry. Through the work of its public policy office in Washington, D.C., the IAB advocates for its members and promotes the value of the interactive advertising industry to legislators and policymakers. Founded in 1996, the IAB is headquartered in New York City and has a West Coast office in San Francisco.
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Contact:
Anthony Loredo
646-462-4888
AdExchanger’s Industry Preview 2016 was wrapped up yesterday. Detailing the digital advertising industry’s hot topics for the coming year, there were plenty of great quotes, predictions, and insights. This year in particular, topics such as programmatic TV, cross-device tracking, targeting, and measurement, ad blocking, ad fraud, and native advertising took center stage.
With digital spend out-pacing TV ad spend, it’s no wonder the industry is looking to bring an automated buying process to the TV sphere. What adds some complication is the advent of streaming devices like Apple TV, Amazon Fire TV and Chromecast.
Love @meganpagliuca simplified def of programmatic "plan, buy through tech using data" @Omnicom @Accuen_USA #IP2016
— Melinda McLaughlin (@MelOnMktg) January 20, 2016
Could programmatic TV be more effective in within these streaming services, where ads can be more targeted based upon individual channel subscriptions and user data? This could be the case, rather than making the current TV model more digital.
Looking forward to talking cross-device tracking, ad blocking, and native ads with @AdExchanger this morning. #industrypreview #IP2016
— Julie Brill (@JulieBrillFTC) January 21, 2016
A helpful primer: The Many Faces of Ad Fraud and How to Protect Yourself @centro #IP2016 https://t.co/CfuJmfKnub
— Kelly Wenzel (@kellywenzel) January 21, 2016
Since there is no current common measurement standard for cross-device measurement, problems arise in the trustworthiness of the data being collected. Furthermore, being able to link a single user throughout various screen in devices is proving difficult enough as it is.
#ip2016 Can #nativeadvertising be programmatic & remain native? Panel consensus? All agree that, No, it's site specific & is special.
— #DigitalNYC (@digitalnyc) January 20, 2016
"Content is the new creative; native is the new distribution." @NativoPlatform's @hchrisrooke #IP2016
— Jason Jedlinski (@JasonJedlinski) January 20, 2016
Native Advertising is on the rise as the next big ad unit. Native is coming up at tough but necessary time. The FTC recently released new guidelines, calling for more disclosure on native ads. With ad blocking software growing in usage, it’s intriguing how native ads are considered a solution to bypass ad blockers and engage customers. Going forward, how will blockers account for the various native forms?
Best nugget of the event "Better to be good than lucky" @robnorman #IP2016 @adexchanger @Centro
— Kelly Wenzel (@kellywenzel) January 21, 2016
So what should we take away from AdExchanger’s Industry Preview? 2016 will hopefully be packed with plenty of ad innovations and long awaited measurement standards.
Learn more about Native Advertising with Centro.
As expected, this year’s consumer electronics show did not disappoint with a vast display of new electronics products, gadgets, systems and digital services from hundreds of brands debuting at the show. Products ranged new 8K TVs from the likes of Panasonic and LG to the releases of the unexpected as well as the unknown including SMARTWheel, a steering wheel cover that alerts drivers when they exhibit distracted behaviors on the road. Other product debuts included a variety of smart home products, a 360-degree action camera from Nikon and several virtual reality headsets, with each exhibitor taking up a fraction of the Las Vegas show’s 2.4 million square feet footprint.
Perhaps not always intended on the part of electronics providers, one thing is becoming increasingly clear – digital advertising opportunities are continuing to improve for brands and marketers. Many new smart and connected devices are primed for offering new types of advertising. Whether it’s refrigerators in connected homes or the audio system in a connected car, an online digital presence and screen are infiltrating more and more parts of everyday life.
A series of digital marketing sessions titled ‘the Chief Digital Officer Global Forum’ honed in on these findings. CMOs, CIOs and CTOs representing brands like Under Armour, American Airlines, The Weather Company, Disney and Visa partook in a panel discussions. Each company acknowledged their firm commitment to innovating in the consumer technology space for the benefit of their expanding consumer base’s needs.
While traditionally not thought of as a technology company, Disney’s CTO, Skarpi Hedinsson, noted that as marketers, there is a responsibility to reach and engage with consumers across every screen that they would want to reach out to a respective brand on.
Another key contention was the importance of constant data collection. Every chief digital officer noted the need to aggressively collect and aggregate data and leverage it to make future decisions from analytical findings. Under Armour’s head of North America Media and Advertising, Doug Ziewacz, added that while people may view the brand as a sports apparel retailer, the company defines themselves as a technology company.
That focus and drive to regularly analyze customer needs through technology, data and expanding screen and device usage is what these companies anticipate will keep them thriving for years to come. With those key considerations in mind, major brands and advertisers are primed to leverage devices from the CES showroom to better reach their consumers and ultimately sustain success.
There’s something rotten in online publishing. I’m no Shakespeare, but we’re an industry under siege. The rise of programmatic ad buying is devaluing and commoditizing our lifeblood (our owned and operated inventory). As a result, some people are compromising user experience by piling on more ads and artificially inflating traffic numbers — hoping to boost their financial performances.
Read more on ProgrammaticAdvertising.org
One of the biggest trends at CES was, without a doubt, virtual reality and 360 video. Nearly everywhere you turned, someone was donning a VR headset in your line of sight. Chances are, even if you weren’t at CES, you’ve tried VR via the increasingly prevalent Google Cardboard.
In a short period of time, we as consumers and users have become amateur film makers and photographers. Beyond that, one of the most buzzed about films this year was filmed entirely on something many of us carry around in our back pockets, an iPhone. The content we can create and view is better and more accessible than ever before. That’s why the cliché phrase, “content is king,” isn’t being retiredanytime soon. So here we are, on the precipice of “the next big thing” in content, and VR wants it’s time in the sun.
On a consumer level, we are ready for VR.
Let’s look at how it could change the way we share and experience content on social media. Snapchat is quickly becoming the go-to place for sharing a snapshot of your experiences. Many times at CES, I witnessed people open Snapchat, stand in the middle of the show floor and do a complete 360 degree pan of their vantage point. People want to give their friends/family/followers a peek into what they are experiencing at that moment, from every angle. If a picture is worth 1,000 words, a 360 degree, immersive video is worth a million.
Additionally, we want more “insider” access to the content we consume than ever before. Take the additional content created for The Golden Globes on Sunday, for example. There were slow motion and 360 cameras on the red carpet, golden Vine nuggets and an official Snapchat Live story showcasing non-televised moments. Sure, the TV screen was the hub of content but consumers are constantly searching for ways to get more from these events. Virtual reality has the ability to drop you right in the center of the red carpet -- to feel what it’s like to stare down a line of photographers, to hear the screams of fans and to rub elbows with JLaw and Leo.
But is VR technology ready for consumers?
Tthere are some major barriers to cross. The largest being the experience. To have a solid VR experience, you need to be attached to a bulky headset. Google Cardboard works in a pinch, but it doesn’t do it justice. With the full gear on, I literally giggled with delight during a demo of Discovery’s VR content and had to stop myself from attempting to pick up the puppies that were circling at my feet in the middle of The Puppy Bowl field. However, the feeling faded when I loaded the content on my phone and viewed it through Google Cardboard at home.
Wearing the gear has a limit of 15 minutes at most. People feel disoriented, dizzy and sometimes even anxious when wearing it. Your sight and sounds senses are immersed in the content, but you’re still very much aware that your body is not there and that someone is hovering over you for their turn. Maybe some of that will lessen if it’s brought into the home, but I doubt it. Think about how many people you know with home entertainment systems that feature 3D. I’m going to guess not a lot, despite the tech being widely available for some time. It’s not because they don’t want it (movies filmed in 3D for the theaters is the norm) but bringing in the extra hardware (the glasses) is a step consumers don’t want to take on. Again, we want the content but we also want the extreme ease of use. It needs to fit in our back pocket.
So, what does this all mean for marketers today? A lot actually.
While VR everywhere may be further into the future, the idea of an immersive experience is very much now. How can you create an experience for your customers or at very least integrate your brand with an experience? This line of thinking is easy for entertainment brands. We’re already seeing it during major events and concerts. But other brands can think like that too. Are you a hardware shop? Use 360 to show a customer how they can fix that leak pipe on their own. Are you coffee distributor? Show them how the beans are crafted and cared for. Are you a hospital? Put anxious patients to rest by showing them a 360 look at their scheduled procedure.
It is the age of supplemental content. Embrace it. All 360 degrees of it.
It’s no surprise that consumers are ingesting digital content at greater speeds and on more devices than ever before. What’s challenging is that consumers are willing to skip and click out of anything that gets between them and their content. So what’s a digital marketer to do?
As Centro’s Aubry Parks-Fried (pictured prepping below) explained in our recent 3Ton30 webinar, the solution is to go native!
Aubry Parks-Fried strikes a power pose to prep for #3Ton30 with @Centro! pic.twitter.com/P7RSm6fe8S
— Raechel White (@raedudoubleb) January 20, 2016
As Aubry explained, social content is native content. Consumers value social because it’s timely and trusted. In fact, consumers would rather learn about a brand’s products through content, not traditional advertising. The stats are clear: consumers aren’t just stopping by social platforms, they are spending a lot of time there. For advertisers and brands, investing ad dollars in the social space is a no-brainer. And for good reason. Social content is the most effective kind of native advertising there is (eMarketer).
#socialmedia makes up 60% of native ad spend! Are you advertising on social? #3Ton30 — Ashley Nix (@AshleyLizNix) January 20, 2016
Facebook has the reach of the #SuperBowl, every single day. You HAVE to take advantage of this advertising strategy! #3ton30
— The Partnership (@PartnershipATL) January 20, 2016
1 out of 5 mobile minutes is spent on Facebook or Instagram! #3ton30
— JayRay (@JayRayAdsPR) January 20, 2016
#Snapchat generates 6 BILLION video views per day. That's BILLION.... with a "B". #3Ton30 #socialmedia #marketing
— Susan Ann Roper (@susanannroper) January 20, 2016
93% of Pinterest users utilize the platform for planned purchased. #3Ton30
— Candace (@PRandBLover) January 20, 2016
So what can you do today to improve your digital campaign with social placements? Aubry shared four key steps:
"Don't be afraid of native social advertising." Great tips from #3ton30 by @Centro #socialmedia
— Bailey Fuqua (@BaileyFuqua) January 20, 2016
Thanks for a great presentation, @mrsapf! Fantastic webinar packed with useful, timely #digitalmarketing information #3Ton30
— Susan Ann Roper (@susanannroper) January 20, 2016
Thanks to all those who attended! Keep your eyes peeled for a complete list of questions and answers we were unable to tackle during the webinar.
Learn more about Native Advertising with Centro.
Meh. That was the resounding response I overheard as I weaved through the 2.47 million square feet of exhibition space at the 2016 CES. ‘Meh’ was the common theme in many of the quickly posted recaps from advertising and technology bloggers.
I on the other hand had a totally different take. For me, CES2106 was all wow. Wow is my response to not just the ‘meh’ populace, but what I saw and experienced over my four days in Las Vegas.
There were over 3800 exhibitors from all over the world showcasing some truly incredible gadgets, devices, and electronics. Are all of them going to change the world? No way. Are the majority of them even going to have a significant impact in how we consume or share media? Not likely. But some will – either directly with more immediate adoption, or in the future through an iteration.
This is what CES is about. Exploring the floor, listening to the passionate voices of the product specialists, discovering the nuggets of awesomeness, and envisioning the possibilities.
But, the unfortunate reality is -- we’ve become desensitized to innovation. Maybe it is because we throw that word around so much these days it has lost its meaning. But innovation is not just a shiny object. As marketers, we know how to make an object shiny, so we’re doing ourselves a disservice when we don’t identify advancements in technology as innovation, especially in the seemingly endless halls of CES.
Over 40 years ago, Arthur C. Clarke wrote that “Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.” As consumers, and as marketers, we have a desire to be wowed by what we can’t see or understand quickly. The paradox today is that while (electronic) technology has become incredibly pervasive in our society, we are becoming increasingly aware of the tricks and have a growing disdain for what we perceive as obtrusive technology. We want magic!
So what was awesome and had glimmers of magic at CES?
I was impressed, not just by the massive number of connected devices fulfilling the IoT (internet of things) prophecy, but how the devices are truly starting to work together. My amazement over a Samsung refrigerator streaming T. Swift subsided after a few minutes. But when a refrigerator is connected not just to Pandora but to my other appliances and devices throughout my home, and is controlled through a hub -- pre-heating my oven and programming my microwave based upon our Taco Tuesday meal plan, reminding my wife and I that we only have 67 minutes until our daughter’s soccer game so with normal traffic expected we need to leave by 6:45, and that there is a 30% chance of rain so bring an umbrella when we’re running out the door, and we don’t have to remember to pick up some dishwasher detergent because it knows we’re low and orders for us – that is invisible magic that makes real life better.
Moving forward, I expect the conversation to evolve from connected devices to interconnected devices. We are starting to see what has been marketed as simply smart is becoming exceedingly clever. It is up to marketers to identify new ways to be involved in this environment to add value.
One brand that is doing an incredible job of this is Under Armour (and I’m not just saying that because my 7 year old son and his running buddies are decked head to toe in UA). With Under Armour’s focus on making athletes better through technology and innovation, it was not a surprise to hear their head of media & advertising, talk about “devices as we know them falling away” and how they want to make “collecting data [be] as easy as putting on a t-shirt”. At CES, they rolled out their first piece of smart apparel -- connected shoes -- which have built in sensors. With these $150 shoes, there is no need to strap on your fitness band or enable an app on your smart watch. You just go. While these sensors help in an active, physical setting, they are enabled in an incredible passive manner, too, syncing seamlessly post-physical activity.
Nonetheless, CES had quite a bit magic that was very apparent and in your face (both literally and figuratively).
An example I heard from Google was how media has evolved over the last century and how we are getting closer to it: we started with the radio which may have been as far away as the other room, to the TV that was in the same room, to a computer that can not only travel with you but is only an arm’s length away, to mobile phones which are held close to our face. What’s next is the extreme immersiveness of Virtual Reality.
Incredible content is being produced. Just look at YouTube’s #360Video, which is a hub for a wide array of 360 degree videos or Discovery’s VR app, which houses a growing library of very impressive immersive content that takes you all over the world and face to face with sharks, elephants, and puppies. I believe there is enough newness and amazement with 360 video, and particularly virtual reality, that 2016 is going to be a big year for buzz with a variety of brands having advanced experimentation. In 2017, there will be an inflection point to either gain greater momentum with advanced technology that minimizes the obtrusiveness (and let’s be real, awkwardness) of VR, or else I expect a similar fate as 3D televisions, which were absolutely non-existent on the show floor this year.
On my flight home, I realized that 20 years ago this past December, my parents bought our first Windows PC, complete with access to this new thing called the World Wide Web. When I first connected and I began to explore, it felt like magic. Since that time, there continues to be incredible innovation with technology, both completely new types and significant advancements. CES 2016 was anything but meh. In a city known for its stage shows, is it any surprise CES was filled with advanced technologies that in my opinion, were indistinguishable from magic?